HISTORICAL NEWS SEARCH - Government of British Columbia

*2) Addendum 1 of TFL #1 provided for the reimbursement of the reconstruction costs through stumpage offset.
Before issuance of this addendum, the Copper Main haul road was reclassified from private road to Copper River
Forest Road.
*3) In January 1963 in Fort St. John, southwest winds reached a top 60 mph (96 km/h) and an excess of 70 mph (112
km/h) was recorded in 1965 (Alaska Highway News, October 16, 1974).
October 17, 1974
Event type: Subaqueous slide and tsunami.
Precipitation: Not available.
Source: Northern Sentinel, October 24, 1974; Murty 1979 (p. 7777).
On October 17 at 11:15 p.m., a submarine slide occurred in Kitimat Inlet. *1) It generated a water wave of
2.8 m (Murty 1979). The sudden tide or wave amounting to nearly 20 ft. (6 m) by witness account was attributed to a
landslide either under the sea or from a hill or mountainside. It caused damage including the sinking of several small
boats, upturned canoes and larger boats.
Tibor Baldauf rode out the series of waves. “We went down a good 8 ft. (2.4 m),” he said adding that his boat rode up
8 ft. afterwards. Waves then came in at one, one-and-a-half or two- minute intervals, taking just as long to go out. By
the second wave, the boat hit bottom again. Baldauf stuck his head out of the hatch. His vessel’s mast and trolling
poles, including his antenna were ripped off the boat, apparently by becoming caught by the dock pilings. The mast
almost struck him as it went over. By the time he could get out of the cabin, the spring lines holding the boat had
snapped. Two heavy chain plates embedded in the craft’s cement hull were ripped out. George Grant’s 35-ft. (10.5 m)
gillnetter, moored stern-to-stern to Baldauf’s cement boat, was bashed in by the waves, resulting in $3,000-4,000
damage.
A fourth wave, sounding like “rushing water,” swept the boat towards shore, only to become entangled on a
pile by a floating mass of ropes, mast antenna, stabilizers and trolling poles. By hitting the ropes with and axe Baldauf
was able to free the boat, which was then picked up and flung a second time towards shore. The waves were gradually
reduced after the major surges. Baldauf was then able to make it out into the channel into clear water.
At the Rivtow Straits dock across the channel, a piling was knocked into the Rivtow office, which was at
water level. The office roof caved in when the dolphin and pilings broke off. One barge pulled a cleat with eight lugs
off the Northland dock. Mike Stephens at Rivtow estimated the wave was 6-8 ft. (2-2.4 m) high. Other witnesses
claimed subsequent ones up to 15 ft. (4.5 m)
At Kitamaat Village, marks near the top of pilings to where the tide had risen indicated a height of close to
20 ft. (6 m), from the near low tide. Sam Robinson noted that had the wave occurred during high tide, water would
have been swept over the village road.
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*1) Kitimat Inlet has a history of landslides. Several slides occurred during the period 1952-68 and several in 1971
(Murty 1979).
October 25-27, 1974
Event type: Landslide.
Precipitation: Prince Rupert (5.08 in./129.0 mm/2 days), October 25-26, 1974.
Source: The Vancouver Sun, October 27, 1974; The Province, October 28, 1974.
During the 48-hour period ending 11 a.m. on October 27, Prince Rupert recorded 5.08 in. (129.0 mm) of rain,
3.6 in. (91.4 mm) of which fell in the second 24 hours.
On November 26 at 9:25, a landslide on Mount Hays, 3 mi. (4.8 km) west of Prince Rupert pulled down two
telex lines. A mudslide 11 mi. (17.6 km) east of Prince Rupert knocked out the BC Hydro line and the line connecting
the substation. A number of basements were flooded after the power outage shut down sump pumps.
January 2, 1975
Event type: Snow and debris avalanche.
Precipitation: Not available
Source: The Vancouver Sun, January 3, 1977.
On January 2 just before 6 p.m., a massive mud and snowslide came down a steep hillside cut on a 1,000 ft.
(300 m) mountain along Highway 16 about 23 mi. (36.8 km) east of Prince Rupert. The slide, loosened by heavy rains
and high winds during the previous week, covered a 100-ft. (30 m) stretch of road to a depth of up to 20 ft. (6 m).
Winds had reached up to 70 mph (112 km/h) and about 4-5 in. (100-125 mm) of rain had fallen it the area.
According to the highways department spokesman, it was “an unusually large slide,” consisting of a thick
mixture of mud, snow, rocks and large trees. Though crews managed to clear one lane for traffic by 9:30 p.m., normal
traffic would not be restored before late on January 3.
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